Question

Why do we require artificial sweetening agents?

Answer 1

Hint: Before moving on to the purpose of the artificial sweetening agents we must know what these are. Artificial sweetening agents are chemicals that sweeten food, without adding any extra sugar in our body.

Complete answer:
We should have an idea that the basic requirements of the artificial sweetening agents are that they add sweet taste to the food. But these artificial sweetening agents do not have any food value. They go directly through the digestive tract without being digested. It helps diabetic patients to eat sweet food without adding any extra sugar in their body.
There can be misconceptions regarding the artificial sweetening agents that they can add calories to our body which is not at all true since they aren’t digested at all.
The artificial sweetening agents are generally obtained from the substitutes of synthetic sugar, but they can also be formed from natural substances, including herbs of sugar itself. The artificial sweetening agents are used in beverages, frozen desserts, chewing gum, baked goods, and other foods.
Some examples of artificial sweetening agents are saccharine, aspartame, sucralose, alitame.

The basic structure of Saccharine:

The basic structure of Aspartame:

The basic structure of Sucralose:

The basic structure of Alitame:

Note: We must know that artificial sweetening agents are about 200 times sweeter than sugar and are readily soluble in water. It has sweet taste without the beta chemical or metallic after taste as reported in other artificial sweeteners. This property makes it a good ingredient to be used as a sugar replacement in many food recipes.